David Ortiz needed just two words to describe Derek Jeter’s final game at Yankee Stadium, which ended with a walk-off single from none other than the retiring New York Yankees shortstop.

“That’s him,” Ortiz said.

The Boston Red Sox slugger has nothing but respect for Jeter, who he has played against in some of the most defining moments of the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry. But the two might not get one last rematch in at Fenway Park.

A reporter jokingly told Ortiz that Jeter said he wouldn’t play at Fenway for this weekend’s series if the big Boston designated hitter, who’s battling a wrist injury, wasn’t in the lineup.

Anthony Ranaudo certainly had his ups and downs in his first stint with the Boston Red Sox, but the right-handed starter ended his season on a high note.

The 25-year-old walked away with the win in his final start of the season in an 11-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays at Fenway Park Wednesday night. It was a serious improvement on his other six starts with the Red Sox.

Ranaudo made it past the sixth inning for the first time in his very young career, going seven innings and giving up two earned runs on six hits. He recorded two strikeouts and walked just one batter. But, perhaps most importantly, Ranaudo didn’t give up a home run for the first time in his seven starts.

The outing wasn’t perfect, but it certainly showed that Ranaudo should be one of the guys fighting for a spot in the rotation come spring training.

The American League East has been full of powerhouses in recent history, but that certainly was not the case in 2014.

The Boston Red Sox and the rival New York Yankees both missed the playoffs for first time since 1993, and the Yanks didn’t make it two years in a row for the first time since the 1992 and 1993 seasons.

The Baltimore Orioles, who had been perennial basement dwellers until recently, ran away with the division, and both the Toronto Blue Jays and Tampa Bay Rays failed to take a Wild Card spot. The last time the AL Wild Card didn’t feature an AL East team was in 2006.

When utility man Brock Holt went down with a concussion earlier this month, the Boston Red Sox put 21-year-old outfielder Mookie Betts in his spot atop the batting order.

It turned out to be the perfect fit.

Betts has a .299/.373/.433 slash line with four doubles, four RBIs and a home run through 17 games in the leadoff spot, and Red Sox manager John Farrell likes what he sees.

“When you consider he’s on base — I think it might be a couple of games in which he’s not reached base, but many games it’s been a couple of times a game,” Farrell said. “He gives you some power threat in the leadoff spot for a young guy. There’s base-stealing capability, but the on-base (percentage) is .370, .380 at this point. He profiles to the position, to the spot in the order.”

Fenway Park has one of the most unique outfields in all of baseball, particularly in left field.

The Green Monster is certainly iconic, but it can be difficult to get used to, particularly for Boston Red Sox newcomer Yoenis Cespedes. Cespedes misplayed a ball in the eighth inning of Tuesday night’s loss to the Tampa Bay Rays that allowed two runs to score.

While the Cuban slugger certainly has had some growing pains, former Red Sox pitcher Dennis Eckersley notes that his play is bound to improve as he gets more games under his belt.

“The more experience he gets out there, the better he’s going to get,” Eckersley said. “He’s a talented guy; not too many guys have that cannon that he has. Left field is not any easy thing to do.”

Hear more from Eckersley about the difficulties of playing left field at Fenway in the video above.

The Boston Red Sox starter owned a 6.75 ERA before a disabled list stint in June and struggled to get deep into games.

But since then, Buchholz seems to have rediscovered a few of his devastating pitches and has turned things around to an extent.

“If you look at the starts he’s made in the second half, there’s been more consistency that we’ve known Clay to be able to perform to,” Red Sox manager John Farrell said Tuesday. “There’s been bumps along the way. But I think as he’s gotten back to locating his fastball, and the action to his two-seamer’s improved, the cutter’s been able to play off of that.

“But the real separator prior to the DL to now is the use of his changeup and his curveball. That has been the separator of his performances in those two time frames.”

Buchholz only has two starts left this season — one against the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday and one against the New York Yankees in the final game of the regular season — but he’ll certainly be looking to end things on a high note.

David Ortiz hasn’t been punishing the New York Yankees as he usually does this season.

The big Boston Red Sox slugger is batting a mere .196 against his team’s biggest rivals in 2014. What’s more, he could still be feeling the effects of the two games he missed at the end of August after fouling a ball off his foot. Ortiz hasn’t hit a single home run in his last 38 plate appearances.

Boston Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts isn’t having the best season, but he certainly isn’t acting that way.

If there’s anything positive to take away from the 21-year-old’s .224 batting average this season, it’s that he’s still able to maintain his composure and try his hardest every single day.

“I can’t imagine a kid his age handling it the way he has,” former Sox pitcher Dennis Eckersley said. “If there’s one thing, it’s the way he’s done that more than anything else. I remember when I was 20 years old, I had a great year, and the next year I got killed…and the first half of the season I was devastated. It’s hard to come back from that.”

There has never been a question about Dustin Pedroia’s defense — he’s a Gold Glove-caliber second baseman — but his offense this season hasn’t been what the Boston Red Sox are used to seeing out of him.

While it’s strange to say that someone batting .281 is having an off-year at the dish, Pedroia hasn’t been as consistently good as he has been in years past, leaving some to wonder if he’s hiding another injury, as he did last season.

But Pedey has been hot in August.

Pedroia is batting .304 with 13 RBIs and three home runs in 23 games. Eleven of those have been multi-hit games.

Hear Tom Caron and Dennis Eckersley’s take on Pedroia in the video above.

Boston Red Sox third baseman Will Middlebrooks tweaked his hamstring during the fourth inning of Tuesday’s contest against the Los Angeles Angels, but the Sox aren’t expecting the oft-injured infielder to be out for long.

Boston manager John Farrell said that Middlebrooks would be day-to-day, and The Boston Globe’s Peter Abraham noted that the third baseman was moving around just fine before Wednesday’s game. Middlebrooks was absent from Wednesday’s lineup, but for now, it’s just a precaution.

The big league team couldn’t get it done Tuesday night, but their minor league team did.

The Boston Red Sox took a 4-3 loss to the Los Angeles Angels in the ninth inning of their contest at Fenway Park, but the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox delivered a 7-0 beating to the Lehigh Valley IronPigs.

Outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. contributed to the PawSox victory, going 2-for-5 with two singles and a run scored. Pitcher Anthony Ranaudo — who could see The Show again soon — enjoyed a quality outing, allowing zero runs on seven hits in six innings of work. Ranaudo struck out four and walked only one batter.

Hear more about how things are going down on the farm in the video above.

The Boston Red Sox have given plenty of young players a chance to taste what it’s like to play in the major leagues this season.

Prospects such as Jackie Bradley Jr., Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts, Rubby de la Rosa and Allen Webster have risen up the ranks and played for the Red Sox, and it seems like all of them did it very quickly compared to homegrown players of the past.

For instance, Dustin Pedroia had 733 plate appearances in Triple-A Pawtucket before being called up. Betts and Bradley each had fewer than 300.

Peter Abraham joined NESN’s “Red Sox Gameday Live” before the Red Sox’s game against the Los Angeles Angels on Monday night and said this is because of an organizational change in the team’s philosophy of calling up players.

“Part of that is, baseball teams are more willing to play young players now and get what they can get out of them at this age as opposed to waiting and getting closer to free agency,” Abraham said.

Having young players get their feet wet in the major leagues probably gives them good experience, but it also might be the reason why prospects such as Bradley Jr. and Bogaerts have struggled facing big league pitching early in their careers.

Jackie Bradley Jr.’s exceptional defensive play finally wasn’t enough to keep him in the majors.

The center fielder was sent down to Triple-A Pawtucket after hitting just .216 with one home run and 30 RBIs despite leading all outfielders defensively in double plays and assists.

“To send Jackie back to Pawtucket has been talked about for a little while now,” Red Sox manager John Farrell said before Monday night’s series opener against the Los Angeles Angels. “We’re sending him out to maintain some of those adjustments, and that is to shorten down that swing a little bit more and have a more distinct two strike approach.”

The Red Sox instead will use the last 39 games of the season to evaluate Mookie Betts, who was hitting .335 with five home runs and 31 RBIs in 45 games with the PawSox.

This is Betts’ third call-up by the Red Sox. He has hit .244 with one home run, two RBIs and one stolen base in 13 games for Boston.

The Red Sox hope Bradley can figure out his bat while he’s in Pawtucket while they simultaneously check out what Betts can do over the last month and a half of the season.

Boston Red Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski was only signed through the 2014 season, so by designating him for assignment Wednesday, Boston will get the opportunity to look into the future.

Catcher Christian Vazquez was called up from Triple-A Pawtucket and will get the start behind the plate for starting pitcher Rubby De La Rosa against the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday. Vazquez has been lauded for his defense — he has a 40 percent caught stealing percentage — but he’s one of the PawSox’s best hitters as well.

The Boston Red Sox bullpen has been the one consistently strong element this season, but that wasn’t the case Monday night against the Seattle Mariners.

Relief had to be called out early after John Lackey gave up seven earned runs in 3 2/3 innings, but Chris Capuano couldn’t get the job done. Capuano let up five earned runs in 2 1/3 innings before being taken out.

But the bullpen will get a chance to show why it’s still one of the best in baseball Tuesday during round two in Seattle.

Check out more analysis from Don Orsillo and Dennis Eckersley in the video above.

Dennis Eckersley made a number of stops in his Hall of Fame career — including, of course, with the Boston Red Sox — but arguably his most successful stint came with the Oakland A’s.

The A’s are celebrating the 25th anniversary of their 1989 World Series championship this season, and they invited their former closer to throw out the first pitch before Saturday’s game against the Red Sox. Receiving Eckersley’s toss was another talented closer, Sean Doolittle, and the 59-year-old proved he still had it by firing one in to Doolittle at home plate.

Eckersley, who stayed at the park to be the color man for Don Orsillo on NESN’s broadcast, compiled 320 saves over nine seasons in Oakland from 1987 to 1995.